Punch Lane Wine Bar is such a beautiful space, fitout, location and ambience. Once you enter the restaurant it's like you've stepped out of the city and into a different world, it's such an escape and ambience, you can forget the outside world. The wine list is decent and covers a good selection of local and international, with wines by the glass and bottle. The food here covers small, medium and large, mostly designed to share but can be done separately. The food is high quality, great flavour combinations and definitely a sophisticated modern Australian feel. The staff here are really friendly and helpful although not always attentive, so you may be waiting on occasion. Definitely recommend a visit for a great escape as you can forget about time here with great wine, food and ambience.

What a cute bar, restaurant, cafe. Our hostess was friendly, attentive, offering information about the food and origins. We were seated in the private room where we enjoyed/loved the set menu. My favourites were the beetroot dish, kingfish, gnocchi, Ah I simply loved them all. Each share plate perfectly measured for the number eating. The dish was freshly made with the best quality vege, meats, salad, etc with sauces adding to the flavours. The bathroom was clean and close by, the drinks were well made (cocktails) and priced. We were cosy but not crushed. It was a fantastic night well worth the $$$. Enjoy

@punchlane 📍CBD ⭐️ Craggy Range Pinot Noir NZ ✔️ Winter Old Fashioned ✔️ Olives & Lupini ✔️ Bread ➖ Wagyu Tartare ⭐️ Spanner Crab Cigar ⭐️ Scallops ✔️ Kingfish Ceviche ➖ Potatoes, Sour cream ✔️ Duck Breast ✔️ Portuguese Tart Millefuille Punch Lane is a long-standing wine bar located at the top end of Little Bourke Street in Melbourne’s CBD. They are an institution, opening back in 1995, however have flowed with the times and still feels fresh. The team also brings you nearby basement bar @julietmelbourne and @waygood.richmond. 🍷 They have a 2 course Punch Lunch menu available Tuesdays - Fridays for $45pp, as well as a Chefs Spring Menu for $100pp, alongside their regular Australian/French leaning A La Carte menu (which we opted for). The Kingfish was very fresh, we loved the combination of ingredients. Our favourite dishes were the Spanner Crab Cigar and the Scallops, however found both to be small in portion for the price. The Wagyu Tartare came served individually on a rosti! 😍 The Duck Breast was beautiful, couldn’t have been cooked any better, however the vegetables were very soft. The Potatoes were too salty for our taste, the sour cream was served underneath, sadly melting instantly from the heat. The Portuguese Tara Millefuille was a perfectly balanced and textured finish. The vibe feels very European, warm, cosy and unpretentious. I would love to see an improvement on the portion sizing to feel more value for money but overall we loved pretty much everything and left very satisfied. Their Instagram was recently compromised, losing thousands of followers, so give them some well deserved love and support if you can. 🫶🏽

Great food and cheese. Wine is always on point. Often just come for cheese and wine after a dinner somewhere else. Great service. A must try.

Fantastic wine and food, little bit too loud though.

Continues to be one of the CBDs best wine bars. Cosy atmosphere, friendly and professional service, and great wine list.

Top notch Melbourne institution. How on earth do they do it all inside that tiny kitchen! Try to get a seat towards the back so you can watch the action unfold.

Booked for dinner between theatre shows with my mother as it was very close to the Princess Theatre. Service, professionalism and friendliness was great from the minute we arrived. The menu was great but made it difficult to choose so we opted for the Tasting Menu. Great decision and the wines were perfectly matched. Special mention to our Maître-D Denis, Waiter James and Sommelier Quentin for making our experience truly memorable and enjoyable. I’ll definitely be returning and thoroughly recommend this place to anyone looking for a great dining experience.

Nice food, but maybe manage expectations on the menu - if you're advertising 'spouts' have more than three measly leaves (no actual sprouts) that would usually be thrown away, or 'confit garlic' maybe have something resembling garlic rather than some lackluster and underseasoned potatoes (with no garlic). The chicken was lovely, and the fish nice but slightly overcooked, but we'd ordered things on the menu because of their (non-existent) accompaniments, and would have chosen otherwise if we'd known.

Favourite Melbourne haunt. Always a nice friendly vibe, attentive service, just a fun place. Oysters, followed by Scallops. Yellow fin Tuna , and a whole Whiting , simply Sublime. Bottom line for two $313.00 with wine

Loved every moment dining here, it was a wonderful experience led by our lovely waited who recommended beautiful wines and dishes. I love how cosy this restaurant is, it was certainly very busy on a Friday night dinner 6:30pm. We ordered a few small plates, 1 medium plate and 2 larger plates, they ever even nice enough to give us a complementary special small plate that was not on the menu. We really enjoyed the Wagyu Rump which was a special, the cod coquettes and the favourite of the night was the Charcuterie, the prosciutto was describe as a Wagyu of ham and it surely did not disappoint. Would highly recommend this restaurant, perfect for a date night. 8.6/10 2 people was 300+ P.S Loved the chilled water.

This is my most reliable wine bar in Melbourne and located top end (Spring St) of Little Bourke St. Great selection of wines, nibbles, and great ambience. If I don't visit here on my trips I have not been to Melbourne.

Simply delicious! Had a lovely meal at Punch Lane - ordered the salad, pumpkin gnocchi and chocolate ganache. Every dish was so full of flavour - the gnocchi were like like pillows that melted in your mouth and paired nicely with the smoked cheese and pumpkin purée! The chocolate ganache was to die for - will probably go back tomorrow for another!

We enjoyed a fantastic date night here on Saturday. The venue is gorgeous and was the perfect place to be on a cold Melbourne night. We had three different small bites, an entree (who knew beets could be that spectacular?), and a main each. Every dish was exactly what you want from a restaurant that has earned its institution status. Fantastic drinks menu too, of course. Thank you to the Punch Lane team for a wonderful evening.

Another favourite wine bar where you can sit back and enjoy a drink ( or many more). Very relaxing atmosphere. I have yet to try the food in the restaurant but certainly on my list!

I've been coming here every time I visit Melbourne for over a decade now. Great wine selection of course, good range of food for both red and white wine pairings, plus a nice buzz and friendly, knowledgeable staff. What more could you want?

Good wine selection. Like the energy inside. Would come again.

Thanks Victoria for her service.We liked the wine and the cheese boards

It was my Mr. Bday and we went into this bar for a quick drink before going to the actual place I’d booked. The American guy was friendly at the door when we asked if we could have a drink, but I should’ve trusted my instincts. The other bar tender was snobby polite while insulting us :) but we were enjoying our night. While paying the American guys attitude changed after he’d noticed we hadn’t tipped, for what, you didn’t do anything? you shouldn’t be thirsty for tips this is Australia, we don’t do that here because it’s cringe AND we don’t promote unfair pay, which tipping promotes. If we choose to tip we always tip in cash. We eat and drink all over and this place was average with a cap A. I don’t care if it’s a hole in the wall or if you think you’re top end, if you’re holistically good we’re always coming back to spend our money. Punch Lane not our style.

Venue was quite quite warm (i dined in the small room on the left handside), food was okay, highlight were the gnocchi. Although the food order was taken not correctly so we ended up having an extra dish (not charged for it). Overall the service could be improved a little as couple of times was hard to try and get the staff’s attention..

OMG! First time in this place and it definitely won’t be last. Amazing service and mind blowing food. Thank you guys, the experience today was beyond speechless 💕

Perfect place to have a relaxed time with friends over wine, very knowledgeable staff, cosy and perfect for a romantic date as well, very inviting, enjoyable, good wine options. I didn’t try the food, but wine wise, is worth to spend some time at this place.

We had dinner there last night with friends & we all had a great night. The atmosphere is great, food equally as good. But what was really nice to see was the level of service & obvious love that the team have for their profession. Victoria was amazing & only made our night more enjoyable. Well done all

An institution. We used to come here every year for our wedding anniversary and this was our first time back since beginning of COVID-19. Food was good, not to-die-for, but yes delicious and well presented. However, the shortfall was the 1st half of the service: 1. Only drinks menu was offered at the start. 2. Cocktail orders were taken after 10 minutes, not bad, but could be quicker. 3. The waitress then came back, asked if we wanted to have dinner, we said yes (keep in mind, we booked a dinner reservation about a week prior). 4. The waitress brought over the menu with no menu inside the folder 😂 we tried to ask her, but she was too quick for us. We tried to get any one of the staff’s attention and successful did after the 4th try. 5. Cocktails only came about 40 mins into our reservation, and the bartender (assuming manager as well) took our order. All is well with that. 6. We were still drinking our cocktails, we had to rush it down whilst our mains came so we drink our wines too. 7. We had a change in staff halfway during dinner, the waiter was a saviour to the rest of the service, attentive to the sparkling water refill, offered to bring down blinds for the room and asked us if we were ok with that due to sitting next to it. His demeanour was warm, focused, and friendly. Overall, cocktails were delicious, food was good, wine was great, but service is the key.

On New Year’s Eve we had a 4 course set menu with matched wines. What an experience. All of the food was sensational, the chosen wines interesting and enjoyable and the customer service exemplary. Congratulations to you all and a huge thank you as it was also my birthday. 🙏🙏

Great service, 5-star French cockatils. Dennis, THE OWNER, directed us to another bar on our pub crawl. Great people.

Outstanding wine bar and restaurant. Great wine list excellent food. Not to be missed.

Great place Top class in a relaxed vibe. Food was amazing

Do not even know where to start. This place is a gem with seriously good food, very unique flavours and dishes. The head chef knows what’s on. Wine list speaks for itself. Been coming for years. The best part… the staff. Darcy, Nick & D’artagnan (defo spelt this wrong), Max. All legends. Tonight I had of the best steaks and prawns in a very long time, well done guys. The steak probably one of the best I have had. Love love love! Jen xx

staff was really friendly and professional I had made good memories here :) highly recommend

We all enjoyed your meal very much, highly recommended, compliments to your chefs. Happy new year. Seasons greetings from Theo/Magdalene.

We happened to walk past on a Saturday night looking for a wine bar, and feel like we lucked out coming across Punch Lane. The warm, dark, cosy atmosphere was perfect, the kind of place where you feel surrounded by wine and books. The service provided by Will was fantastic, we felt well looked after and were given some great recommendations. I also highly suggest grabbing some of the cheese on offer, paired with a glass of wine it went down a little too well that we “had” to order another! Great night all round and will be back.

Wow so good. Went for Christmas lunch set menu. It was so tasty and the staff were great!

Nice lovely place. Very warm service and great staff. Love the desserts and the spanner crab cigars. Steak could be a bit more consistent with cooking. We had it thrice and was better first time.

The food and beverages were great. We sat outside but we were not cold. Recommend.

Was staying at Lancemore (Hotel) next door who recommended this venue. Had arrived from Sydney last minute on a Saturday evening and managed to grab the last table for two available (circa 7:30pm). Literally walked in and said we don’t need to see the menu just bring the taster menu, and it was incredible. We were also suggested matching wines throughout. Our server Rachel was AMAZING - Kiwi, super energetic and just a wonderful host. Thanks for making our night such a great experience! Highly recommend!

The sun was shining on a beautiful evening in Melbourne as we took our seats for an early dinner at Punch Lane. Delicious food, great wine and beer and exemplary service somes up this fantastic restaurant. All shared with good friends. The set course menu allows you to select two or three courses. Opting for the quail to start, I was not disappointed. My dining companion's mozzarella looked equally delicious! Lamb was my choice for main which was a good serving, served rare (just the way I like it) accompanied by potato terrine and zucchini in batter. The barramundi and steak were also good size servings and the side dishes of chips and salad were not really needed. Expecting to be ushered out after two hours, we were pleasantly surprised when we were allowed to sit and enjoy the ambience for as long as we wanted, even though our eyes were bigger than our bellies and none of us had room for a dessert.

Stunning venue, atmosphere and service. From the cheese plate to the wines, everything was perfect. Good value also!

The team were absolutely fantastic! We ran late thanks to road closures and called ahead to be treated with a “No problem! Get here when you get here”. Then my wife ordered a drink they didn’t have and they nipped out to grab the ingredients to make it without us evening knowing and apologised profusely for the delay. Very above and beyond! Of course the wine list is outstanding, and the food was delicious. Outside of that they team were just lovely to to converse with, and the play list, apparently collated by one of the team Darcy, was on point for the atmosphere. All in all highly recommended.

I love the look of this place and the service is good. Prefer to attend for the small plates and a drink instead of the large plates.

Amazing food and service - would even say "above and beyond". This is not a cheap eats venue but a good example that you can indeed get what you paid for, and then some. Highly recommend the fish of the day but the stand out for me was the duck. Incredible wine list as well. We went for an early pre-theatre dinner on a Thursday evening and came away completely satisfied and impressed. Thank you Punch Lane, we will be back. Highly recommend booking.

Some friends and I came in for dinner and drinks and we were not disappointed. Our waiter, Patch, was attentive and charismatic. The cocktails and wine choices were excellent and the service was great all round. All 3 courses on the set menu were delicious, especially the desserts. We can't wait to return for another night at Punch Lane.

Sadly we were all left really disappointed with Punch Lune experience. Service was terrible we felt like we were an inconvenience to the staff and did not feel welcomed at all. It’s a shame as the food and wine on offer is lovely.

Good ambiance, good wine, though the Gamay did not taste anything like you would expect a Gamay to... Astringent to the point where we wondered how long the bottle had been open. In any case they certainly have some different or fairly uncommon wines there in a good ambiance and professional wait staff.

We came here on a Tuesday night for an anniversary dinner. Traffic was unfortunate as to be expected although we tried to allow enough time for that, we still ran into more delay than expected. Punch Lane were more than accommodating and moved our booking without hesitation. One would assume this may differ if it weren't for a weeknight booking though. We dined with the five course tasting menu and as recommended by the waiter we kept it as a surprise and found out together what would be served to us throughout the night. Each dish was incredible! Honestly could not fault one dish. Could not recommend the tasting menu more! Portion sizes were perfect, my partner is a big eater but he left satisfied. We were served a variety of freshly cut bread, to die for! The five course tasting menu can be paired with wine but neither my partner or I were able to drink for the evening. Seated closely to us were afew tables ordering a varieties of wines and they were beyond impressed so I have no doubt Punch Lane would pair their meals perfectly with wines. Over all a fantastic evening. Service was fabulous and we both enjoyed our night, well done!

The food was nice except for the sweet potato that was partially undercooked.

Punch Lane seems to be full constantly so when our group size upped to 7, we were thrilled that the reservation was changed without issue. The welcome upon arrival was excellent and our Kiwi waitress, new to the job (unfortunately I cannot recall her name), looked after us extremely well all evening. She was extremely knowledgeable on the menu, able to identify minute elements of our dishes when we asked throughout the meal and provide recommendations on dishes, all of which I would now highly recommend. The menu reads like a dream and we had trouble choosing. All three courses were excellent and the presentation of the dishes especially was fantastic.

They're still functioning during the current crisis and shutdown and are doing delivery of groceries and some delicious deli items. They've got freshly baked bread, loaves and some home made Portuguese Tarts. Let's support this Melbourne institution throughout this difficult time. Saying that as I tuck into a delicious freshly made baguette! :-)

Amazing food, as always, and when a somelier can personally come by your table for a chat, and suss out the most perfect bottle of wine to match the occasion (anniversary), you can't go past that. Will be back when possible.

Great atmosphere and great food!

Located in one of Melbourne's interesting laneways, this restaurant is a must visit. The customer service was spot on and the ambience of the restaurant is just right. The fact that the food was superb was almost an added bonus. We loved our Punch Lane experience and highly recommend it to others. Came to Melbourne for Harry Potter and this place is just around the corner. Amazing service, drinks and food. Love this place, we have been twice already and coming back for more after the show. Alan was outstanding- thanks for showing us such a wonderful time! Some great little tables on the street too.

The service was excellent, with my reservation able to be pushed back after we were running late and just great service staff in general. Expensive but worth every dollar The pumpkin tart. Wine was fantastic- asked for a recommendation and got some great wine choices that matched perfectly with my meal.

My daughter and son in law gave me diy package for mother's day, a very cheerful and helpful man delivered and without any doubt the gnocchi particularly was the best ever...great chicken soup and beautiful egg tarts as well. Was so good .thanks punch lane and faith and matt McKay Major

Loved it. Praise to the staff. ? Definitely a return date night a must

I would like to break down my rating. 5 star to the French male and female wait staff terrible that they have to let customers know that half the menu was unavailable. Really polite, kind and friendly. 4 out 5 for the atmosphere and environment was very nice. 2 out of 5 for the food. Nearly half the menu was unavailable, I really wanted the pork neck but unavailable. So I had the steak, it has so fat and grisly. Very disappointed. I would give it a go again, when they have a full menu...

The wine list is long enough to make choosing difficult. Thankfully the proprietor is full of great suggestions, and asking simply for cheese with a red will work out well.

Located in one of Melbourne's interesting laneways, this restaurant is a must visit. The customer service was spot on and the ambience of the restaurant is just right. The fact that the food was superb was almost an added bonus. We loved our Punch Lane experience and highly recommend it to others. We eat at Punch Lane each time we come to Melbourne and it never disappoints. It has been consistently good over the years and we love the ambiance. The staff are excellent and always willing to please. Our meal was delicious. Thanks again.

Absolutely excellent. The food is amazing with really great flavours. I loved the pumpkin tart. Wine was fantastic- asked for a recommendation and got some great wine choices that matched perfectly with my meal. The service was excellent, with my reservation able to be pushed back after we were running late and just great service staff in general. Expensive but worth every dollar The service was excellent, with my reservation able to be pushed back after we were running late and just great service staff in general. Expensive but worth every dollar The pumpkin tart. Wine was fantastic- asked for a recommendation and got some great wine choices that matched perfectly with my meal.

Great people, great menu, great wine list

Cute wine bar, with great wines and well informed staff. The atmosphere is perfect for conversations with friends over dinner and drinks.

A great little spot for a drink with a small group of friends with a casual vibe. Fantastic drinks list and share plates of food also available.

Great food, accomodating and friendly staff!

Excellent place for a date night. Had the tasting menu and it was a great experience. Didn't do the wine pairing but from I had by the glass it would be very tasteful. Glowing recommendation!

All I can say is WOW!! Fantastic food... amazing wine... awesome staff

fantastic food and great service

Classic menu in a posh dark wood paneled room. We tried the Barramundi and Pork Neck. Really satisfying. Familiar flavor yet tasty. The veal shin risotto was really nice as an appetizer.

Great atmosphere, fine hosts, delicuous

Great experience 10/10

amazing atmosphere

Always a fantastic wine range and service here

Great, simply great.

Great wine list.

Gave 2 stars for the wonderful setting but lost the rest on the appalling service. Called in after the theatre for some drinks, was served after 10-15 mins then saw nobody after that. We gave up after 45 mins and left not before I told them we would have been happy to stay if we could have got some service. Very odd.

Wow! All I can say is this was a 5 star! Food was extraordinary. Our group was on a city tour of Melbourne and we ended it with this hidden gem of a restaurant...Understated, kind of cool edgy atmosphere. I ordered the Golden Cauliflower purée, pickled red onion toasted almonds with a hint if coffee flavor.. my main a terrific Twice Baked gruyere soufflé! Service friendly!!